Hurricane Matthew Impacts Millions with Electrical Outages

The number of outages reached peak levels, approaching approximately 2.5 million residential, commercial and industrial electricity customers

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, compiled from U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Situation Reports

Hurricane Matthew caused temporary electricity outages for millions of people along the southern Atlantic Coast. Matthew was a Category 3 hurricane when it hit the east coast of Florida, just north of the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, on Thursday, October 6.

The number of outages reached peak levels on October 9th, approaching approximately 2.5 million residential, commercial and industrial electricity customers without service across five states.

Florida incurred the biggest peak outages during Hurricane Matthew, with nearly one million customers, or 10% of all electricity customers in the state, without service. South Carolina’s outages peaked at more than 800,000 customers, encompassing one third of the state’s total customers.